Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines, and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are most likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting of the machines.
Consequently, shrewd operators strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines available because such machines attract frequent play and, hence, increase profitability to the operator. In the competitive gaming machine industry, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to produce new types of games, or enhancements to existing games, which will attract frequent play by increasing the entertainment value and excitement associated with the game.
One concept that has been successfully employed to enhance the entertainment value of a game is that of a “secondary” or “bonus” game which may be played in conjunction with a “basic” game. The bonus game, which is entered upon the occurrence of a selected event such as a start-bonus outcome of the basic game, may comprise any type of game, either similar to or completely different from the basic game. Such a bonus game produces a significantly higher level of player excitement than the basic game because it provides a greater expectation of winning than the basic game.
One problem with current games is that they do not provide a player with visual anticipation during a start-bonus outcome of the basic game. Thus, in current games the player's visual sense is not fully enhanced during the period between the basic game and the bonus game. Instead of providing a climatic experience for the player, steadily building the player's expectation of reaching the bonus game, current games generally provide an almost immediate result informing the player that a bonus game has been won. These games, which show an almost immediate result of a bonus game, fail to capitalize on the player's visual sense of anticipation and, consequently, fail to provide a more entertaining gaming experience.
In one type of games, sounds are used for creating anticipation in a player. For example, in one type of games the gaming machine makes a sound as each trigger symbol lands in the display area. The sound indicates to the player that a bonus game is getting closer. In another type of games, all the trigger symbols are animated for entertainment purposes, to increase the player's gaming experience, after all the reels have stopped. None of these two types of games succeed in enhancing the player's gaming anticipation such that the player can visually observe, with anticipation, how close a particular spin has come to a bonus game.
Therefore, a need exists for a gaming machine that will provide a solution to the problems discussed above.